Reciprocating pump



Feb. 238, 1933." F. ACKERMAN 1,898,994

REC IPROCATING PUMP Filed Feb. 20, 1930 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 .5 y Q QfW f 7' na /mm 23, 1933. F; ACKERMAN RECIPROCATING PUMP Feb 3 Shee'is-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 20, 1930 Z M 3 M v 4 QTToe/vms.

Feb. 2, 1933. ACKERMAN 51 398394 RECIPROCATING PUMP Filed Feb. 20, 1930 3 Sheeis-Shegt 3 Patented Feb. 28, 1933 UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE FRANK ACKERMAN, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO CURTIS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF WELLSTON, MISSOURI, A. CORPORATION OF MISSOURI RECIPROGATING PUMP 7 Application filed February 20, 1930. Serial No. 429,966.

This invention relates to reciprocating pumps and other machines of the kind that are equipped with one or more reciprocating plungers or pistons, and a plunger operating mechanism arranged above or in a higher horizontal plane than the plunger or plungers of the machine.

One object of my invention is to provide a reciprocating pump or other piston machine of the general type mentioned, which is equipped with a novel means for causing oil or any other suitable lubricating liquid to be supplied substantially continuously to the parts of the machine that require lubrication and recirculated or used over and over again in such a way that an adequate supply of oil is assured for the lubricated parts without liability of oil being wasted or splashed over the exterior of the machine.

Another object is to provide a lubricating mechanism of simple design'for piston machines, which is of such construction that con.- trolled amounts or quantities of oil will be fed to parts of the machine that require lubrication, and the oil thereafter returned automatically from a sump or similar element to an overhead trough or the like which supplies oil to a number of feeding devices.

Another object is to provide an open-ended cross head guide that can be kept flooded with oil without liability of the oil escaping or being thrown from the end of said guide when the cross head is inoperation.

And still another object is to provide a gravity fed lubricating mechanism of simple design for supplying oil or the like to an outboard shaft bearing located beyond or on the outside of a wheel or other webbed part on the shaft that is arranged between said bearing and a source of supply of oil.-

I have herein illustrated my invention embodied in a tri-plex high pressure hydraulic pump, but I wish it to be understood that my invention is applicable to various other kinds of machines that comprise one or more reciprocating plungers or pistons, and an operating mechanism for same, which, in order to produce good results, should be supplied with'a generous quantity of oilorother suitable lubricating liquid when the machine is in operation. I

Figure l of the drawings is a side elevational View, partly in vertical longitudinal section, of a triplex high pressure pump con-. structed in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is an end view of said pump, part- 'ly in vertical transverse section.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of said pump.

Figure 4 is an enlarged vertical cross sectional view of the overhead oil trough.

Figure 5v is a fragmentary bottom plan view of said oil trough.

,Figure 6 is an enlarged detail view of the elevating mechanism that is used for raising oil from the sump and delivering it to the overhead trough; and

Figure 7 is a vertical transverse sectiona view, taken on the line 'Z7 of Figure 6, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate the preferred form of my invention, A designates a plurality of vertically-disposed pump plungers, each of which reciprocates in a chamber B provided with an inlet valve 1 and a discharge valve 2, as shown in Figure 2. The operating mechanism for the plungers A consists of a horizontally-disposeddrive shaft C provided with a pinion 3 that meshes with a gear 4 on a horizontally-disposed crank shaft D that is arranged above the plungers A. The crank shaft D is provided with crank pins 5 that are joined by connecting rods 6 to vertically-reciprocating cross heads 7 combined with plungersA, and open-ended vertically-disposed tubular guides 8 are pros videdfor the cross heads 7.

When the pump is in operation oil or some other suitable lubricating liquid is discharged from an overhead oil trough E in such a way that the side walls of the cross head guides 8 will be kept flooded with oil, and in order to conserve the oil and prevent it from being splashed or thrown over the exterior of the machine, I have provided means for collecting and again using the oil that drains from the inner surfaces of the cross head guides 8, and also means for preventing, oil from escaping from the cross heads and working downwardly onto the plungers A.

In the form of my invention herein illustrated an oil reservoir F is combined with the cross head guides 8 in such a manner that the oil which is supplied to the side walls or inner faces of the cross head guides 8 will drip from the lower ends of said guides into the reservoir F, and thus be prevented from escaping to external parts of the pump, the reservoir F being closed and provided with a filling cap 9 that is adapted to be removed when it becomes necessary to replenish the supply of oil that is used to lubricate the lunger operating mechanism of the pump. he escape of oil from the cross head guides 8 onto the plungers A is prevented by providing the cross heads 7 with relatively large upper portions that snugly fit inside of the cross head uides, and providing said cross heads with dower portions of reduced diameter that are spaced away from the side walls of the cross head guides, external surfaces of the large and small portions of each cross head being joined together by an undercut or upwardly-inclined surface 10 at the lower end of the large upper portion of the cross head which prevents the oil on the exterior of said large portion or on the side wall of the cross head guide from traveling to the small lower end portion of the cross head. The wrist pins 11 that join the connecting rods 6 to the cross heads are arranged horizontally in the large upper end portions of the cross heads, as shown in Figure 1. The bottom of the oil reservoir F-is provided with holes 12 of suflicient diameter to permit the upper end ortions of the plungers A to reciprocate free y in same, and in order to prevent the oil in the reservoir F from escaping through the holes 12, the bottom of the reservoir F is provided with upwardly-projecting annular anges 13 that surround the holes or o nings in the bottom of the reservoir in w ich the plungers move, the top edges of said annular flan es 13 being preferably inclined downward as shown in Figure 1, so that in the event any oil drips onto the top edges of said flanges, said oil will drain back into the reservoir F. The particular design or details of construction of the cross head guides 8 and oil reservoir F is immaterial, so far as my invention is concerned.

As shown in Figure 1, the oil reservoir F is provided with a sump F, and means'is vided for elevating oil from said sump Into the overhead oil trough E, previously mentioned. Any means that will cause oil to be fed substantially continuously from the sump F into the oil trough'E may be used, but I prefer to use an elevator consistin of an endless chain 14 which is posi tione in a groove formed in the peripheral edge of a wheel G that is secured to the crank shaft D adjacent one end of same, as shown in Figure 1, said chain 14 being arranged so that it travels around a grooved guide wheel 16 arran ed in the sump F. When the crank shaft is in operation the rotary movement of the grooved wheel G causes the chain 14 to travel through the oil in the sump F, and thus become coated with oil that is carried upwardly onto a pair of vertically-disposed, parallel flanges 15 on the wheel G that form the side walls of the groove in said wheel in which the chain 14 travels. Due to centrifugal force, the oil supplied to the wheel G by the chain 14 will be forced to the peripheral edges of the flanges 15 on the wheel G, from which point the oil is scraped off of said flanges 15 and discharged into the overhead oil trough E by means of a scrapin device 17 that is mounted in the trough 1% in proximity to an open-ended housing 16 in said trough up through which the top portion of t e 011 wheel G projects, as shown in Figures 1, 3 and 6. The scra ing device 17 can be conveniently forme from a horizontally-disposed plate mounted on top of the wheel housing 16 and provided with an elongated slot 17", shown in Figure 3, up through which a portion of the oil wheel projects. At one end of said slot is a beveled or inclined scraping edge or surface 17, shown in Figure 6, that progressively removes the film of oil from the peripheral edge of the flanges 15 on the oil wheel, and thus causes the oil that has been elevated by the joint action of the chain 14 and oil wheel G to be discharged into or supplied to the oil trough E. Preferably, the scraping device 17 is so constructed that it can be adjusted relatively to the oil wheel G to accurately control or regulate the supply or feed of oil to the trough E. In the pump herein shown the plate which constitutes the scraping device 17 is provided with elongated holes 17, shown in Figure 3, through which clamping screws 17 pass. By loosening the screws 17' and movin the plate 17 relatively to the oil wheel the scraping edge 17" of said late can be brought closer to or spaced arther away from the peripheral edges of the flanges 15, thereby enabling the quantity or amount of oil that is elevated into the trough E from the sump F to be accurately controlled, due, of course, to the fact that a relatively thick film of oil will be removed from the flanges 15 when the scraping edge 17 almost touches said flanges, and a thin film of oil will be removed from said flan es when the scraping edge 17 is spaced fart er away from the peripheral edges of said flanges.

The oil trough E is arranged at a point above or in a higher horizontal plane than the crank shaft D, and said trough is made substantially L-shaped in outline, as shown in Figure 3, and arranged so that one leg or portion of same extends longitudinally of the pump for the major portion of the length of the crank shaft. In the particular form of my invention herein shown oil discharged by gravity from the trough E onto the parts of the machine that require lubrication by means of a plurality of gravity feed devices which are preferably of the form or design shown in Figures 4 and 5 and consist of vanes E that have downwardly inclined bottom edges 18 over which oil flows by gravity from holes 19 in the bottom of the trough E, and is thence discharged drop by drop onto the parts that require lubrication or into oil cups or similar devices associated with said parts. For example, as shown in Figure 3, gravity feed devices H project downwardly from the longitudinally-disposed portion of the trough E at such points that the oil which drips from the terminal ends 18' of said devices II will fall into oil cups 20 combined with the crank pin bearings on the connecting rods 6, during a certain portion of the are of movement of said oil cups 20. The oil that is supplied or delivered by the feeding devices H just referred to is also utilized to lubricate the wrist pins and the cross head guides 8. By properly designing the feeding devices H and controlling or regulating the quantity of oil which the elevating mechanism delivers to the trough E from the sump F, the crank pins, wrist pins and cross heads can be kept flooded with oil without liability of oil be; ing wasted or splashed. over the external parts of the pump.

Gravity feed devices H of similar design are provided for delivering oil to oil cups or pockets 21 that are combined with the bearings of the drive shaft C, as shown in Figure 3, and a similar gravity feeding device H is provided for delivering oil to an oil cup 22 on a bearing in which the left hand end of the crank shaft D is journaled, as shown in Figure 1. The bearing for the right hand end of the crank shaft is what I will term an outboard bearing and is arranged on the outside of the gear 4 on the crank shaft, previously mentioned, that meshes with a pinion 8 on the drive shaft. A means of slightly different construction or design is required to lubricate the outboard bearing for the right hand end of the crank shaft, due to the fact that the web 4 of the gear 4 is interposed between said bearing and the overhead oil trough E, as shown in Figure 1. Accordingly, I have provided the right hand end of the trough E with a gravity feed device H of the kind previously mentioned, which is so arranged that oil will drip from same onto the inner side of the rim of the gear 4. The rotary movement of the gear 4 causes the oil that is discharged onto said gear to find its way to the inner surface of the rim of the gear, where it is stored or pocketed by inwardly-projecting flanges 4? on said rim. As shown in Figure 1, holes 4 are formed in the Web of the gear 4, so as to permit the oil which was delivered to or discharged onto the left hand side of said gear, looking at Figure 1, to pass transversely through the web to the right hand side of the gear. From the inner surface of the rim of the gear 4;, the oil is delivered by gravity to an oil cup 23 on the said outboard bearing by means of a rod 24 that projects upwardly from the oil cup 23 and which is bent in such a way that the upper end of same will be positioned in suificiently close proximity to the right hand side of the inner surface of the rim on the gear to cause oil to pass from said surface onto the rod 24, and thence flow downwardly into the oil cup 23. In this way I obtain an adequate supply of oil for the cup 23 of the outboard bearing, notwithstanding the fact that said cup is arranged on the outside of a gear which is interposed between said cup and the trough E from which the supply of oil is taken.

A removable cover or housing 25 is provided for the overhead oil trough E, and felt 26, layers of wire mesh or other suitable material is mounted on the bottom of the trough over the relatively large discharge holes 19 in said bottom, so as to retard the escape of oil through the discharge holes 19, and thus constitute in effect a metering device which enables the supply of oil to the gravity feed devices to be controlled with substantial accuracy. Said material 26 also serves as a strainer for the oil supplied to the feeding devices H.

In order to prevent the crank shaft D from deflecting intermediate its ends, due to the upward thrusts that are exerted on the crank pins 5, during the compression strokes of the plungers A, I have provided the crank shaft D with a pair of disk-shaped members D that are arranged between the three crank pins and which are partially embraced or surrounded by two half bearing members 28 arranged above the crank shaft, as shown in Figure 1, and securely fastened in any suitable way to the frame of the pump, said bearing members being lined or faced with wear-resisting material 29. The disk-shaped members D may either be formed integral with the crank shaft, or be formed from separate elements that are rigidly connected to the crank shaft, and the location or arrangement of said members may be varied, depending upon the number of plungers or other reciprocating devices that the machine is equipped with. The essential thing, so far as this feature of my invention is concerned, is that the crank shaftbe provided intermediate its ends, or intermediate its main bearings, with one or more disk-shaped devices which co-act with one or more holddown bearings in such a way as to resist the upward thrusts to which the crank shaft is subjected at certain periods in the cycle of operations of the machine, and thus prevent said crank shaft from deflecting.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a machine of the general character described, the combination of a reciprocating plunger, an operating mechanism for said plunger arranged above the same, an overhead oil trough from which oil is fed by gravity to said operating mechanism, a reservoir arranged so as to receive and collect the oil supplied to said operating mechanism, an elevator for carrying oil upwardly from said reservoir, a rotatable element onto which oil is fed by said elevator, and a scraping device for discharging oil from said rotatable element into said trough.

2. In a machine of the general character described, the combination of a reciprocating plunger, an operating mechanism for said plunger, an overhead oil trough from which oil is fed by gravity to said operating mechanism, a sump in which the oil supplied to said operating mechanism collects, an elevator consisting of an endless chain that travels through said sump, an operating wheel for said chain provided with a groove in which said chain is positioned, and a scraping device arranged to remove oil from the peripheral edge of said wheel.

3. In a machine of the general character described, the combination of a verticallydisposed reciprocating plunger, a cross head combined with said plunger, an open-ended guide for said cross head, a reservoir, ar' ranged so as to receive the lubricating liquid that drips from the lower end of: the cross head guide, said cross head having an upper portion arranged in sliding contact with said guide and a reduced lower portion that is spaced away from said guide, a hole in the bottom of said reservoir in which the reduced lower portion of the cross head operates, means for preventing the liquid from escaping from said reservoir through said hole, and means on said cross head for preventing the lubricating liquid on the interior of said guide and on the exterior of the upper portion of the cross head from working onto the reduced lower portion of the cross head.

4. In a machine of the general character described, the combination of a shaft, a hearing for said shaft, an oil holder, a wheel or webbed part on said shaft arranged between said bearing and said oil holder, means for causing oil to be fed by mavity from said holder onto the rim of said wheel, means for confining or pocketing the oil on said rim, and means for causing oil on said rim to be fed by gravity to said bearing.

5. In a machine of the general character described, the combination of a shaft, a bearing for said shaft, an overhead oil trough, a wheel or webbed part on said shaft arranged 

